Stone fruits come into their own in the summer. Sure, we can get apricots, plums and peaches trucked or shipped in from California, Chile and overseas practically year-round. But there are no apricots, peaches, plums or nectarines that have the exquisite, honey-like flavors of locally grown produce in their prime season. Visit farmer's markets and stores that display local produce...

Like so many other American families in the 1980s, ours fell in love with Michael J. Fox the minute he took up the role of Alex P. Keaton on "Family Ties," one of those classic TV sitcoms that grew better with each season. If anyone was born to play a part, it was Fox; the role fit him like a...

Visiting the Catskills these days -- that swath of greenery and deep shade where the great Jewish-owned resorts once reigned supreme -- is a depressing journey back into the recent past. The region is not just economically depressed; it's like touring a string of ever more deserted ghost towns. And as is the nature of most ghost towns, you can...

In just a few weeks -- on Sept. 1 -- Jeremy Rothman, a 31-year-old Philadelphia native, will join the Philadelphia Orchestra as vice president for artistic planning, beginning a new path for the first time in eight years, during which time he has served the Baltimore Symphony, the last four in the same capacity he will fill at the Philadelphia...

My wife had an especially magical childhood. It wasn't perfect, of course; she suffered from all the same angst about body image and popularity in school as all other young people of the period suffered. But when her young years were good -- and this was a substantial portion of the time -- they often approached perfection. Take where she...